Developing a postdigital approach in the Art Education classroom

Abstract

The period of sanitary crisis produced by COVID-19 has revealed fissures in social and economic terms, with educational practice being one of the main agents affected. This unprecedented crisis has led to a reflection on the part of educators who must ask themselves what/who they are educating for and how to do so from a pedagogical point of view. Thus, a substantial remodelling of the educational system implies recognising our immediate context, a hybrid and mediatised space where the analogue and the digital merge: a postdigital context. From a philosophical perspective, the postdigital establishes a critical look towards technology, media and communication networks, and therefore, it is susceptible to be implemented in the art education classroom in response to the postmodern curriculum that demands a critical pedagogy and a questioning of the established. This text presents a reflection from a post-digital, educational and artistic point of view through an action carried out with Primary Education students during the 2020/2021 academic year, an academic year marked by digital technology, the reconfiguration of teaching and a massive consumption of audiovisual culture. The results of the proposed practice lead to an understanding of the arts as a vehicle for social criticism and transformation of the collective imaginary. In this way, a series of artistic actions were generated through collective experimentation and intercreation, involving a public that receives the work and gives it meaning.